


Modern Family

by lary



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, First War with Voldemort, Ghost Lily Evans Potter, Kid Fic, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Minor Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Slice of Life, because they are children and it's all very innocent, between the kids that is, not innocent at all between lucius and severus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25894678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lary/pseuds/lary
Summary: Giving up her life is the very least Lily will do to make sure her son is safe and happy. Death has made her no less bossy. Severus and Albus agree on this, but little else. Severus and Sirius agree, too, but you won't catch either admitting it. Especially not where Lily can hear it. Remus would like a rolled up newspaper to hit somebody on the nose with, but will settle for a doghouse or two. Lucius wishes his lover spent less time brewing but will gladly admit those talented hands come with many perks. Harry is enamoured with his shiny new brother. Draco pouts loudly. Narcissa lives in fear of pigtail-pulling to come and deliberates whether having another witch in her home is enough of a recompense for it being a Gryffindor. Severus brews more Calming Draught and only wishes it was effective on ghosts.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy/Severus Snape, Narcissa Black Malfoy & Severus Snape
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a likely-permanent WIP and I may come to regret everything. I kind of just want to follow the muse and write something for fun. Tags will be added as appropriate. Be warned, this may end up with 5 chapters or 50, and posting will DEFINITELY be sporadic. Also, no promises for plot or sense or linear narrative or coherence. Otherwise, enjoy! :D

He felt it the moment the wards fell, of course he did, he and Black had spent a tense Imbolc night together carving both of their blood into runes etched onto every possible surface of the little house in Godric's Hollow. He cast a quick stasis on the cauldron, his heart pounding, turned on the spot and apparated.

He appeared in the back garden by the apple trees, his eyes scanning frantically for enemies, but everything was quiet. The fidelius was definitely no longer in place. He hurried to the house but froze on the front step. “No.”

“Get in, Sev. Close the door behind you. Don't suppose putting up new wards will do much now.”

Fuck, it sounded just like her. His chest felt too tight. “You can't be.”

“We don't have time for that now.” That irritated frown was so familiar, the way her nose scrunched up. He flinched when she made a finger-snapping motion in front of his face, even though it made no sound. “Sev! Focus.”

“Right.” He followed her in a daze, but when he got to the nursery his knees nearly gave out. “Lily...”

“Sev, it's alright.”

“I cannot do this without you.” His voice rang hollow.

“I'm right here. But Sev,” Lily said, urgent. “I need you just as much. I need you right now. It's not safe.”

“You're already--”

“For Harry! You've got to get him out of here.”

As if in a trance, Severus came to acknowledge that yes, her little son was indeed in the room with Severus, Lily, and Lily's dead body. The brat was a lot bigger than the last time Severus had seen him, pulling himself up in his crib while staring at Severus with green eyes – enormous baby versions the same colour as Lily's so recently had been. The boy was making vaguely discomfited noises, as if this was Severus' fault somehow. Severus glared back.

The crib was in pristine condition, but everywhere around it was rubble that used to be walls and furniture. And then there was--

“Is that the Dark Lord's wand?!”

“Yep.” Lily sounded smug, which Severus didn't appreciate in the throes of having a stroke or a panic attack or possibly both.

Severus transferred his glare to her. Even though it never worked. “Explain.”

“I don't know how. It's a bit of a shock you know, to die. By the time I realised what had happened, he was gone.”

The Dark Lord. Gone. No, that was impossible. His Lordship certainly wasn't here now, though, so that was something. “We're gonna need a pensieve.”

“Later, maybe. Right now we need to get Harry somewhere safe.”

Right, priorities. No wards. Black's arrival imminent. Same with bloody Dumbledore. Worse, any Death Eaters who possibly knew what their Lord had had on his agenda.

“Ugh,” Severus said as his inevitable short-term future started to dawn on him. “Why is it you decided to procreate?”

“You need to take the wand too,” Lily said when he went to pick up the Potter spawn. “Do you think I should tell Dumbledore what happened?”

“Oh, you are your father's son,” Severus said when the brat drooled on him. He summoned the wand off the floor into one of his spare holsters, hardly about to touch the thing. He gave Lily a resigned sigh. “Albus will know well enough to guess, whether you tell him or not.”

“I don't know what to do,” Lily said. “I'll think about it. You shouldn't take any of Harry's things, it'll look too sentimental. If other people come.”

“We should take all of them then, if you want suspicion off me.”

“Nappies, though, you'll need them,” Lily continued. Severus made a face at her, which she apparently-cheerfully ignored. “It's not like anyone will know how many he's been using. It'd be very advanced arithmancy anyway, wouldn't it darling?”

“Stop cooing at your son about his defecatory habits and tell me if there's anyone we can trust with him.”

“Don't be crude.” Her attempt to slap him on the arm went straight through, and they both stared for a bit, frozen. But then there was a loud crack from outside and they snapped out of it.

“You do know that I've got exactly one place to hole up in that's Dumbledore-proof?” he asked. Lily grimaced, but nodded.

“I don't know if I'll be able to follow. Sev,” she sounded panicked now. There was a wail from downstairs, and that was definitely Black. Finding Potter's body, which Severus vaguely recalled having stepped over. Fuck. Lily's eyes pinned him to place. “Take care of Harry. That's the only thing that matters. Don't worry about me. Promise!”

“It's offensive to imply I can't multitask. But yes, alright.”

“Then go!”

Black's footsteps pounded on the stairs. With a crack, Severus disapparated.

**

Only after a couple of jumps did he realise he should've asked Lily how many times it was safe to apparate with a one-year-old. He'd taken Draco out a few times, but only a single hop at a time. Harry definitely wasn't appreciating the treatment – they'd been holed up under fidelius for nearly nine months though, it was unlikely he'd been apparated a lot. He was fussing rather urgently, but there was no screaming as of yet.

He did three more, deciding the risk of being followed outweighed the risk of any permanent damage – if repeat apparation were that risky for a baby, Lucius in all his embarrassingly adorable manic overprotectiveness surely wouldn't have allowed it even once with Draco.

The first hour or so was spent calming the boy down, changing his nappy and putting him in some of the ridiculous posh miniature robes he had for Draco.

It took a little longer for him to correctly interpret the grabby gestures before he blanched. “Don't even think about it you little monster,” he scowled. “I don't care if you're used to directly extracting your food with your mum. That isn't gonna fly now. Certainly not with me, and I wouldn't try with Cissa either, no matter what you may see Draco do.”

His Slytherin-embarrassing poverty ridden background came in handy with the clothing spells that allowed him to strap the kid on his hip and go hunt for nourishment. Thankfully his rooms had the Manor's only non-elf-controlled food cupboards, because Cissa and Lucius were ridiculous in ways Severus was intent on never resembling, and a lot of things turned out to make edible mush. Harry seemed to agree well enough, or at least opened his mouth obligingly for the spoon and failed to instantly drop dead. Severus counted this as a tentative success.

“I hope you don't imagine the world revolves around you, young man, and that I have nothing better to do than entertain you.” The kid stared at him like a plump owl. Severus picked him up and descended two steep stone staircases into his workroom. He disposed of the potion he'd abandoned, which had thankfully not exploded while he'd been gone, but was ruined and was besides nothing he could work on with a child in the room. Instead he trapped the kid inside an oversized bubble-head charm, levitated him to allow him to watch and learn, and started a batch of Calming Draught. That one contained nothing explosive and he rather anticipated the need for it.

And perhaps it was the case that, amongst the chopping and dicing and stirring, his mind was flitting through panicky fractures of Lily _gone_ and the Dark Lord's wand and whom all he needed to send letters or his patronus to within the next twenty-four hours and ensuring the survival of a tiny human and who or what had broken the fidelius and Lily still-thank-gods- _not-entirely-gone_ and ghost-compatible spellwork and what exactly all this spelled for his life plans.

But also, after every fourth counter-clockwise stir he flicked his wand to bounce the Boy In The Bubble. This resulted in something resembling gleeful giggles, and by the time he poured the potion in vials and gathered the sleepy baby from the bubble into his arms, he felt he maybe wasn't doing entirely terribly.


	2. Chapter 2

“Who goes there?” Myrtle demanded, startled by a sudden noise.

“My apologies, Miss Warren. If you have a moment?”

Her annoyance vanished. She recognised the voice, and the owner never meant to be rude, she didn't think. He must have knocked, it was just that she got so absorbed in her own thoughts sometimes, and she so rarely had any visitors. Sir Nicholas had been by only a few days ago, so this was a treat – two in one week!

“Come in, professor,” she said sweetly. He opened the door and smiled at her, but his eyes were sad. He'd looked sad when she'd died too. Headmaster Dippet had been quite apologetic over the whole matter, but Professor Dumbledore was the only one who'd seemed sorry that she was dead.

Well, Myrtle had made Olive sorry, too.

“Thank you, my dear, but I think it may be best I stay outside,” Dumbledore said. His robes were very bright yellow today. She could never quite decide whether she found his clothes as terrible as she had before or envied their colours now that she could never wear anything other than translucent. “The cubicles are a little tight for those of us still confined by the physical world.”

Myrtle giggled. “Okay.”

“I hope you've been well? The Friar tells me you visited the Hufflepuff bathrooms a few weeks ago?”

“Oh yes!” she said. “They just had Matthias Smith replace the old chaser on their quidditch team. Everybody says he's so dreamy! I had to go and check, of course.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Their seeker is cuter, if you ask me. Do you know his name? Looks like he could be Pearl Zabini's brother, but Zabinis are always in Slytherin.”

“I'm sure I couldn't say,” the Professor said. He had that look, though – he just didn't want to tell her, she was sure of it. She sniffed, rather offended. “Well, in any case when they noticed me they were both quite rude. So I came back here where the students will leave me alone.”

“Very sensible of you,” he said. She could tell he was trying to placate her, but he was nice enough with it. She supposed he always tried to be nice, even in Transfiguration class, although he'd always given Gryffindor more points. “Now, I regret to admit I came for more than a social call. We are in times of war and thus my duties have been more pressing than usual: I came to ask for your help with something. Would you be willing to take another excursion, to the hospital wing this time?”

“I'd really rather not. Master Orpington was always polite, even when he examined my body after I was dead, but when he retired you hired that prissy girl who was once seen at Madam Puddifoot's with Neil Fudge. No great looker, that boy! But I hear he's high up in the ministry these days. I wouldn't mind talking to him, but I don't think they're dating anymore and she's always mean when I drop by.”

“Don't worry, I have cleared your visit with Madam Pomfrey already. There won't be any yelling this time, I give you my word. And I'd very much like you to meet somebody.”

Meet somebody! He did know how how to make her curious, she'd give him that. It was really rather wily of him. “Alright then.”

“Good, good!” His eyes twinkled. “Alas, I find the plumbing rather uncomfortable for travelling, so I shall meet you there in a few moments.”

He was such a silly man. Myrtle giggled and hopped down the u-bend.

**

“Don't get me wrong, I'll see whomever if it makes you happy enough to let me leave,” Lily said only a little bit pointedly.

Dumbledore had brought her to Hogwarts last night, but he hadn't bound her to the castle, which was apparently magic at his disposal. He had in fact given a very somber promise never to do so when the subject had been brought up by the aurors and he'd noticed her anxiety. Not that she rationally though he'd want to imprison her, no more than he'd have done so when she was alive. Still, it was chilling to realise that most people wouldn't see her as a person anymore. She felt no different, but she'd gone from a witch to a ghost, with less claim to personhood than your average wizard gave to a house-elf.

Still, she trusted Dumbledore for it, both personally and in his role of the Hogwarts Headmaster.

That trust was the reason she'd agreed to stay for a few days, even though her heart was aching to be with Harry. She'd never have stayed if she didn't know Harry was safe with Sev, but she couldn't deny they could use Dumbledore's help in more ways than one. “It's just, I don't really want the students to see me and gawk.”

“Of course, I understand.” Dumbledore smiled gently and flicked his wand. “There. We can still see and hear each other to facilitate conversation, but we'll be invisible to others. How are you feeling this morning? Are your rooms comfortable?”

“Comfortable? Yes, I guess,” she said as she followed him through the familiar Hogwarts corridors. The usual measures for comfort didn't matter much now as she had no physical needs, but it was a nice space and it was private. “I got a little bored, since I didn't need to sleep. A lot of the usual ways I'd entertain myself are out, too.” Not that she hadn't had enough to think about to occupy her time, and she didn't seem to get stressed quite in the same way as before no matter how long she ruminated by herself. Still.

“Ah, I believe the lady we're going to see will be able to help you with the transition and answer many of your questions. As Poppy pointed out last night, she isn't an expert on the topic, and I'm afraid my own not insignificant expertise on ghosts is limited to an outsider's perspective.”

Lily snorted, reluctantly amused at this understatement of Madam Pomfrey's reaction. She'd yelled at Dumbledore that she knew how to help _living_ people for a good five minutes before suddenly stopping and giving Lily a rather apologetic little grimace. Lily had some sympathy. They'd seen each other only a year ago when she'd brought Harry for a check up, a little before the fidelius had been set up. Madam Pomfrey hadn't known any details, of course, but she'd known Lily and her family to be at risk, otherwise they could've just seen a healer privately or at St. Mungo's. Strangely enough, Lily didn't feel terribly strongly about her own death, although she knew she hadn't even begun to process James'. But having both their bodies and Lily's ghost brought to her hospital wing with little warning and a bunch of aurors trailing in their wake at half past midnight – well, it was probably reasonable for her be rattled.

Thankfully Lily's temporary rooms were not that far from the hospital wing, because Dumbledore hadn't been satisfied by the results of the interrogation-slash-argument they'd had last night after the aurors had departed, and he still wanted information out of her. Lily understood. He had to manage a war effort that was greatly affected by knowing that the leader of the Dark side was no longer around. Which information was not something she was about to confirm, not until she had guarantees about what he would do with that information, because there was no way she'd allow her son to become a favourite target to Death Eaters by his name being linked to their precious Lord's disappearance. Which were guarantees Dumbledore clearly wasn't willing to give. It was a stalemate they'd need to resolve in the next few days, but she didn't much feel like starting the day by getting into another yelling match with a man she greatly respected and usually rather liked.

They were nearing that yelling match anyway as they neared the hospital wing, until Dumbledore lifted the spell and they both greeted Madam Pomfrey perfectly amiably. She was a lot more composed at this hour, too, having had her breakfast in peace, and expressed her condolences for Lily's passing.

And then Dumbledore took her to the bathrooms, which was confusing until she heard the voice coming from them. She shot Dumbledore an incredulous look, because he had to be kidding her with _Moaning Myrtle_ , but his answering look was surprisingly serious.

“About time you got here, isn't it!” Myrtle said once they'd entered and she'd stopped wailing, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Ah, you must forgive an old man. Miss Warren, perhaps you remember Lily Evans of Gryffindor? Lily Potter now, of course. Lily, Myrtle Warren was only fifteen on the day of her tragic death, but she'll soon celebrate her fortieth deathday. She was a Ravenclaw and has lived at the castle permanently for the past few decades. She's made extensive study of our library's materials on post-death living. If you'd be willing to help Lily here to adjust, Myrtle? She has a great many questions, and I'm sure she'll be able to regale you with some stories on what the class of '78 has been doing since graduation.”

With that, Dumbledore backed out of the toilets, probably driven to haste by the rabid curiosity on Myrtle's face.

“Is it true?” she demanded gleefully. “Did you really marry James Potter? He's really very handsome, although not as much as that tall friend of his... I'd heard you two were dating, but I thought his parents would put an end to it. Wasn't his mother a Black? They don't much care for us muggle-borns, although Potter never seemed to have as much of a problem with me as some of his friends. He used to go on and on about you. Complained that you didn't like him, too. You were just playing hard to get, weren't you? Is he very upset about your death? Oh, sorry about that, I suppose. Are you going to stay here at Hogwarts? I stayed at first while Olive was here, but she graduated a few years later. I haunted her a long time until she got Ministry involved and they got Professor Dumbledore to come talk to me. Do you have anybody you'd like to haunt? I can give you tips. Did you know muggles won't be able to see you? That can be helpful, they can't complain to Ministry of Magic, either, I don't think. Do you know if that friend of Potter's is dating anybody? He was a real slag when he was still in Hogwarts. Not quite as much as his little brother, though, but that one was a Slytherin, and everyone knows they have the best parties. Need to get it all out of their systems I guess, in case their marriage contracts have a monogamy clause. Do you know if he's married by now, Black Minor? I don't think your husband's friend would've had to since the family kicked him out. Right?”

Well, Lily supposed this was better than crying. “Yes, I married James. But how about we do question for question?” she asked, and settled in for a long day.


End file.
